Marine Ostracods of the Upper Miocene of the Well Ashtart 1 (Gulf of Gabès, Southeastern Tunisia)

We studied the ostracod fauna from a Late Miocene-Early Pliocene interval 600 m thick, in Ashtart 1, an offshore well in the Gulf of Gabes, southeastern Tunisia. Most of the 131 samples analyzed contained rich and much diversified populations of marine ostracods. In fact, 212 species have been found, belonging to 70 genera. Among them, eight genera, 122 species and subspecies, considered as new, will be described elsewhere. In spite of contamination, usual in oil wells due to caving from higher levels previously drilled, some stratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental features have been established. The last occurrence datum of a selected group of species has been defined with accuracy, and so…